Hi!

My dd is 17 months and loves her bath time. However, within the last several months, she has been pooping in the tub. I see little bubbles floating up in the water and I say are you going to poop? She of course says no, then a second later it happens! When this happens, bath time is of course over! I know the warm water probably feels good and relaxes her a bit..I've notice that her tub pooping usually correlates with days when she has very little bowel movements or hard ones (constipation). But, my question is should I be really trying to put an end to this? Or, let her continue doing what she needs to do? Anyone ever encounter this with their toddler?

Thanks,
Rachel

Why don't you put a swim diaper on her in the tub? At that age they always say No to everything. But it probably is a phase, although not a fun one. Plus by putting a diaper on her it encourages pooping in a diaper. But with phases like this the less you say about it and draw attention to it the sooner they move on to another phase.

I know this question has been asked under the "Children's Health" page. You might be able to do a search there. Sorry, I don't have any advice, but I think this happens a lot.

I think it's a totally normal reaction to relax in the warm water and "let it go" like that. In fact, after I had hemmroid surgery I found Healthboards.com and a really long thread about others who had had the same surgery. One of the suggestions was to sit in a warm tub of water to have your first few BMs so that it was easier on your system after surgery.

I like the swim diaper idea! That's a great one. I'll have to remember that one...

Hi!

Thanks so much for your input! I do like the swim diaper idea. I'll check out the childrens health page too, and do a search.

Thanks again!
Rachel